Future publishsing have two PC Magazines, PC Format and PC Plus. Can anyone tell me what is the difference in the target readership of these two? I have always subscribed to Linux Format and PC World. I wish to change my PC World subscription but am finding it difficult to decide between PC Plus and PC format.

I use linux exclusively but subscribe a PC magazine to get keep up with developments in computing in general, especially developments on the hardware side. I am kind of inclined towards PC Plus because of one free issue sent to me a few months back which I quite liked. Still, I would very much like to know what others think about these two magazines.

I used to get PC Plus regularly, and PC Format occasionally. I got the impression that PC Format was aimed more at gamers, PC Plus at "serious" computing - but there was a lot of crossover.
However, I haven't bought either for several years now, so things could have changed...

Format is still games biased, Plus gives you the slightly more techy stuff and tutorials as well as latest news etc (even LXF members publish articles in there too, cheaky blighters, you pay for it in lxf then pay for it again in pc plus, but I guess were into recycling these days )

i find PC Format concentrates a bit too much on the games side of things (but i still buy it regardless). so have to buy CUSTOM PC for more info on the hardware side of things. never really gave PC PLUS a chance as it always seems to have 'windows' articles on the cover and it puts me off, although i seriously considered not buying PC FORMAT a few issues ago when it basically said 'linux was rubbish & windows is great'

Have to agree with Morph. I subscribed to PC PLus for the last few years and also to the main Linux mags. Seeing as my use is entirely Linux now I've just dropped my PC Plus sub. I found I just wasn't reading that much of the mag and got nothing from the DVD - I either got stuff from the Linux DVDs or just downloaded it. I also tend to use the net to keep up to speed on general PC matters and found that as a Linux user I got very little milage out of the mag. I just think my computing emphasis has shifted.

Bought PC Format the other day, enjoyed the hardware side but then you could just buy something like GHz Mag for that. Thought it was a bit sexist though, why do you need a tight tee woman holding onto computer parts to make building a computer more interesting? She wasnt building it so why was she there?!?

linuxgirlie wrote:Thought it was a bit sexist though, why do you need a tight tee woman holding onto computer parts to make building a computer more interesting? She wasnt building it so why was she there?!?

An attractive assistant to hold the screwdriver can be quite a boon when building a PC, you know.

I have come to accept that if we of the gentler sex wish to enter a largely male dominated environment (computers, photography, cars, motorbikes to name a few) we can't really expect magazines to change their editorial policy (ie liberal sprinklings of dolly birds to persuade the men to look at them/buy them !!) just for us. We are in the minority and we have to go along with it.

It doesn't really bother me much seeing pics of attractive girls in mags (although it takes up space which could be better filled with technical stuff !). What I strongly object to is the puerile schoolboy humour and sometimes quite tasteless photos which appear in some of the more modern motorcycle/car magazines and, I am sorry to say, also appear to have crept in to some of the more extreme computer and photographic mags as well.

Thank goodness we girls are well served with the various Linux magazines, which are definitely not sexist, extremely well written, very informative and with the right degree and type of humour as well.

Marrea wrote:liberal sprinklings of dolly birds to persuade the men to look at them/buy them !!

At the risk of bringing my precious masculinity into question, I must admit I don't see the point of mixing computer stuff and, well, totty. Perhaps the editors or publishers are trying to appeal to some obscure, unspoken fetish, I really don't know.

How would a computer mag liberally sprinkled with sixpacks and assorted beefcake go down with the distaff readership, I wonder?

When the distaff readership have complained about lack of beefcake in, for instance, Motor Cycle News or one or two of the camera magazines, the usual result has been for the editor to publish a photo of the ugliest example of the male species he can find, usually balding, beer belly and all, and say "happy now?", ie they still treat the whole thing as a big joke. Instead of being sensible and giving us …. now who would a lady of my, what shall we say, slightly more mature years, like to see …. Jenson Button? Christiano Ronaldo? Now that lad has got a body !! Or how about our own Paul Hudson with his shirt off?

I must apologise, I seem to have been affected by spending far too much time on Linux forums instead of getting on with my knitting.